The plaza was chaos.
Dozens of villains swarmed the center, and Aizawa was a blur - dodging, countering, disabling quirks with just a glance, but even he was slowing. His scarf whipped out, catching two at once, but three more rushed him from the side.
And behind it all, like a statue awaiting its cue, Nomu stood still. Lifeless.
Further back, Shigaraki observed lazily, fingers twitching by his side, eyes locked on Aizawa like a vulture waiting for something to die.
Souta took it all in - every movement, every breath. This was it.
"We need backup," he muttered.
"Too many for just us," Tokoyami agreed, already positioning himself behind cover, readying Dark Shadow to assist from a distance.
Souta turned to Iida. "You're the fastest. You need to alert the school - tell them Aizawa's here, and we need reinforcements now, because we were attacked by villains."
"But—" Iida started to object, already adjusting his glasses, "—I can fight—"
"No time," Souta snapped. "You're the only one who can make it out in one piece."
Kirishima and Mina exchanged a quick look.
"I'll break a path," Kirishima said.
"I'll make it slippery for them," Mina added, already forming acid along the debris.
Souta nodded. "Go. Now."
With a burst of exhaust, Iida shot forward - Mina splashing acid in a wide arc to scatter the front line, and Kirishima charging straight through the stunned villains like a wrecking ball. Iida vanished down a side corridor, a trail of wind in his wake.
"Let's just hope he makes it," Mina muttered, catching her breath.
"We have other problems," Souta said, turning to Sero and Uraraka.
"I need to get to the big guy in the back."
They blinked at him.
"What?!" Sero said. "You'll get shredded—"
"I won't," Souta said, voice low and calm. "This is the best chance we'll get. Aizawa's keeping them focused. Kirishima and Mina are distracting the front line. If you get me in close, I can do something. Just trust me."
Uraraka hesitated only a moment. "Alright."
She touched his back lightly, activating her quirk.
Sero stepped in with a nod, already anchoring himself with tape. "Hang on."
Souta braced himself, "Uraraka, deactivate your quirk when I'm close to that guy."
Uraraka nodded, and with a flick and a swing, Sero launched him high into the air - Souta's body arcing over the battlefield like a cannonball, light as a feather, momentum building fast.
Below, Tokoyami released Dark Shadow in a controlled burst - intercepting a villain lunging toward Aizawa's back.
"Fall back! You're not supposed to be here!" Aizawa shouted, fury cutting through his exhaustion.
"Sorry, Sensei," Tokoyami called back. "We can talk about our punishment some other time, preferably when we're not getting attacked."
Aizawa's teeth clenched, but he didn't waste energy arguing.
From above, Souta had the best view - the chaos below, the stillness of Nomu, the slow turn of Shigaraki's head as he noticed something moving in the sky.
Shigaraki moved, holding his hands out – straight into Souta's trajectory, ready to use Decay at any moment.
Souta's eyes widened.
'Fuck, too late.'
Having made a split-second decision, Souta instantly burned the connected parts of Sero's tape away.
'No choice.'
In the next moment, Souta used his quirk - not the familiar blue flame of cremation, but something else - roaring to life inside him.
One For All.
It surged through his limbs like lightning, overwhelming. He gasped, muscles burning, mind struggling to keep up.
He thrust his legs downward and kicked off the air itself.
BOOM.
A shockwave burst behind him as he double-jumped, flinging himself forward like a meteor. The world blurred.
He slammed into Nomu's chest with a deafening impact - bones shaking, dust and concrete exploding outward. Nomu staggered backward a few steps, moving for the first time since their arrival.
Souta hit the ground, rolled, and came up coughing blood - but something inside of him had already changed.
The […copying Complete] prompt flickered in his mind.
'Finally, the regeneration quirk!'
He grinned through the blood. His wounds now healing with a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Round two, baby."
---
By now, most of Class 1-A had arrived.
They stumbled into the plaza in staggered groups - battle-worn, scraped up, but very much alive. Some wide-eyed. Some grim-faced. For a moment, they all paused, trying to piece together the chaos.
Their gazes shifted rapidly - searching for familiar faces.
And then they saw Ojiro.
Still on the ground. Blood soaking through his uniform, his breaths shallow but still coming.
"Get out of the way," Momo said quickly, stepping forward, her quirk already activating. From her skin, rolls of gauze, antiseptics, and pain suppressants emerged one by one.
Shoji and a few others helped stabilize Ojiro's body as Momo worked in calm, practiced movements.
"Just keep pressure there," she muttered. "He's still bleeding too fast - Kaminari, give me more light!"
Most of the class swarmed around, forming a protective circle, sharing intel, regrouping, and bracing themselves.
But three of them didn't move.
Shoto Todoroki. Katsuki Bakugo. Izuku Midoriya.
All three stood at the edge of the chaos - eyes locked on the same place.
Souta.
He had just pushed himself back to his feet, coughing but standing, directly in front of the Nomu, which still hadn't began moving – still waiting for an order. The ground around him was scorched and cracked. Souta's cloak was half-burnt, but his eyes burned with new, focused intensity.
Shoto's face twisted into a scowl - not angry, but worried. He clenched one fist, small embers igniting along his left hand. "He's going to get himself killed..."
Midoriya looked on with a strange kind of seriousness, quickly falling back in his usual fashion of mumbling incoherent words, while he was trying to make sense of the whole situation.
And Bakugo… looked like he wanted to punch a wall.
His lip curled, gaze sharp as a blade.
As Souta staggered forward again, Bakugo's expression was pure venom, like he was watching someone cheat at a game he'd trained his whole life for.
But no one noticed.
The class had already begun moving toward the remaining villains, now fully briefed by the others, sweeping through the goons on the sidelines like a tidal wave of coordination. Along with Aizawa, it was nothing but a clean-up. The real fight? That was up ahead.
The trio didn't wait.
They rushed forward, all with their own methods.
Shoto's ice spread out ahead of him in streaks. Midoriya's feet skipped across the ground like an Olympic sprinter. Bakugo launched forward with blasts that cracked the stone floor.
Souta saw them coming - and shouted, voice cracking but clear.
"Shoto! That fog guy! He's the one with the teleportation quirk! Lock him down! Also, I know you hate it but use your other side!"
Shoto didn't hesitate. His focus shifted immediately, and his left side flared to life. A tide of frost surged across the ground, reaching for the space where Kurogiri hovered behind Shigaraki - just barely visible. The fog rippled in alarm as ice began encasing the lower half of his form.
"Bakugo! The hand guy - he seems to need physical contact! Don't let him touch you and stall him till Sensei comes!"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU DAMN EXTRA!" Bakugo roared, even as he shot directly toward Shigaraki, explosions building at his palms. But the anger in his voice didn't match the precision in his trajectory.
He'd heard the warning, and kept his distance.
Souta turned toward Midoriya, breath catching.
For a second, they just stared at each other.
Then Midoriya clenched his fists.
And ran straight past Souta.
"I'll back up Todoroki! Sorry, but there's little I can do right now!"
Souta blinked. "Wait- what are you—?"
Midoriya veered right. He wasn't charging anyone directly.
Instead, he flanked.
He moved like he was on rails - aiming for Kurogiri's blind spot, just outside the ice zone. If Shoto could slow the guy down just long enough, Midoriya could potentially hit him with a strong punch, hopefully knocking him out.
Even if not, with one more person in the lineup, Kurogiri had even less freedom to move and attack.
That was the best solution he could reach right now.
"Guess he can handle his weight, if the situation calls for it…" Souta muttered.
And then—
"Tsk! Whatever, just kill these four Nomu," Shigaraki called when he saw the trio getting close.
Finally having a command, the Nomu roared.
The sound was a shockwave. Souta felt it in his ribs, in his skull.
It lunged forward, speed above anything Souta had expected in that moment, it's fist already cocked back.
Souta narrowly evaded the swinging arm, sliding across the cracked plaza, barely activating his flames in time to boost himself away. Regeneration or not, a single punch from the Nomu could incapacitate him for a while. That thing was made to kill the Number one hero, All Might, after all.
"Come on…" he hissed, turning sharply. He needed another opening. Just One more second. A new plan already being made in his mind.
Behind him, the battle was exploding in every direction.
Bakugo's explosions collided with Shigaraki, their fight launching in a burst of kinetic fury. Ice crackled around Kurogiri's lower body, and Shoto advanced with both fire and frost in sync.
Something that greatly surprised everyone looking over to the commotion.
And Midoriya?
Midoriya was almost in position.
Souta's hands lit up with his blue flames.
Next move?
All or nothing.